APIBA Newsletter N°19 - March 2004

Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Buenos Aires Asociación Civil sin Fines de Lucro Personería Jurídica c.7111 Res. 8524/79 CUIT 30-66211994-2

Newsletter 19 M a r c h

From the President

As you may be aware, APIBA is run by an Executive Committee elected among its members at the AGM. This new year starts with a partially renewed committee, elected at the last AGM held on October 18 at ISP Joaquín V. González. After 4 years’ service in various positions, Pablo Toledo and Analía Kandel said good bye to the committee. We will all miss their disinterested hard work and their invaluable contributions to our meetings, but fortunately they have both made it very clear that they will keep on supporting the Association in whatever way is needed. In fact, Pablo is still the editor of our Newsletter (thank you, Pablo!) and Analía is of constant help to all of us, always ready to pass on her experience and information to the new members of the committee (thanks, Analía, for your unflinching support and carefully kept records!).

I also want to thank Dr Cristina Banfi, our former president, for having agreed to stay on the Committee as a reserve member and keep on working on the follow-up of legal matters; without her expertise and constant support, my work as President would be much harder, if not impossible. We also incorporated Valeria Artigue, who rejoins the committee after only one year, in which she evidently recharged her batteries, since she is now not only our Secretary but has also agreed to substitute for Silvia Rettaroli as SIG co-liaison officer. As much as Silvia enjoyed her previous position, she needs to devote her full attention to her new role as Treasurer of the Association, which is one of the hardest ones in the Committee (thank you, Silvia!). I would also like to welcome Corine Arguimbau and Romina Nulhem to the Committee; we are sure that their participation will enrich our discussions and help us grow. The team is completed by Laura Renart as Vice-president, Litty Mora (re-elected), as member, and Luciana Fernández as Deputy Treasurer. And we are now ready to play ball!

We are starting out with the first sessions of the APIBA SIGs on April 18. We hope many of you can join us in these activities and, why not, become a member of one or more of the study groups.

Next, there will be a meeting on May 8 on the acquisition of a foreign language at an early age. This meeting is intended to open the debate on this issue, as well as to provide us with practical ideas to use in the classroom with young learners.

Finally, just a reminder: APIBA is a professional association of English teachers, a group of professionals working towards a shared goal. Thus, APIBA is what its members make of it. APIBA needs increased participation from its members in its different activities. We are presently working on re-building our network of local delegates. If you are interested in becoming one, or want to make any suggestions or comments, please get in touch with us.

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you all at APIBA events.

Prof. Sandra Revale

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Table o off content contentss •

From the President

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From the treasurer FAAPI 2003: report from grant recipients • APIBA SIGS update • APIBA present at ELT events • APIBA events for 2004

O f f i c e

H o u r s

Remember our office hours: √ MONDAYS 10.30-12.30 (Lib. Rodríguez; Sarmiento 835) √ WEDNESDAYS 10.30-12.30 (Lib. KEL; M.T. de Alvear 1369)

Di$count$ for Members • British Arts Centre (BAC) offers a 50% discount on their play tickets, and a 25% global discount for groups of students accompanied by an APIBA member.

• The National Resources Centre and AACI’s General English Library offer 25% discounts on memberships • Julia Bowland's Escuela de Radio y Comunicación offers a 20% discount on all regular courses.

Information available from www.bowland.com.ar To claim these benefits, bring along your membership card and your receipt for the current year.

New APIBA committee After voting in our last AGM, this is the new committee. All hail the new brave chosen few!

President esident: Prof. Sandra Revale Vicepr esident icepresident esident: Prof. Laura Renart Secr et ary Secret etary ary: Prof. Valeria Artigue Treasur er easurer er: Prof. Silvia Rettaroli Reserv e easur er eserve tr treasur easurer er: Prof. Luciana Fernández Members Members: Prof. Isabel Onetti de Mora, Prof. María Corina Arguimbau Reserv e member eserve memberss: Prof. Romina Nulhem, Prof. Cristina Banfi

From the treasurer This is to inform APIBA members about our new “Plan de Pago para la Regularización de Cuotas”. APIBA members will have the opportunity of paying outstanding dues (2001-2002-2003) following the schedule below: Outstanding debt Payment plan 2001 dues 2002 dues 2003 dues (March 1–5) (April 1-7) (May 1-5) $ 150 $ 50 $ 50 $ 50 $ 100 $ 50 $ 50 $ 50 $ 50 th Please remember that until May 8 , 2004 dues are $30. After that, they are $50. As from 2004 new members will pay $30 all the year round.

You may have received a letter with information about your outstanding debt. If you have already paid your dues, please let us know. You can send us an email at info@apiba.org.ar or leave a telephone message at 4326-3927. This will help us keep our payment records updated.

We expect that the implementation of this new plan will contribute to a better organization of APIBA’s book keeping.

Silvia Rettaroli, Treasurer

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Pr i m e r s i m p o s i o internacional de bilingüismo y educación bilingüe en Latinoamérica BilingLatAm es el primer simposio internacional que reúne a especialistas dedicados al estudio del bilingüísmo y la educación bilingüe en América Latina. Este simposio se llevará a cabo los días 1, 2 y 3 abril de 2004 en ESSARP (Educadores Asociados del Río de la Plata) y en la Universidad de San Andrés en Buenos Aires.

El propósito del encuentro es promover el intercambio de conocimientos en los campos de la investigación y del aprendizaje acerca del bilingüismo y la educación bilingüe entre aquellos que trabajan en contextos de mayorías o minorías lingüísticas en América Latina. El Comité Académico cuenta con la participación de Jason Beech (Universidad de San Andrés, Argentina); Ofelia García (Columbia University, E.E.U.U.); Fred Genesee (Mc Gill University, Canadá); Christine Hélot (Institute Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres, Francia); Nancy Hornberger (University of Pennsylvania, E.E.U.U), Estela Klett (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina); Ricardo Otheguy (City University of New York, E.E.U.U.); Alicia Tissera (Universidad Nacional de Salta, Argentina) Los trabajos aceptados, que superan los 60, incluyen investigaciones en el área de la sociolingüística, estudios de comunidades bilingües y migraciones, política e ideología de la lengua, language shift, erosión lingüística, desarrollo en la educación bilingüe, niños bilingües, estudios sociolingüísticos y gramaticales de codeswitching, procesamiento de discursos bilingües, estudios sobre la adquisición bilingüe, entre otros. Se han presentado también estudios de casos acerca de educación bilingüe y aprendizaje en el aula.

Los participantes en el Simposio provienen de distintas partes del mundo, como ser Argentina, Armenia, Brasil, Canadá, Colombia, España, E.E.U.U., Francia, México, Namibia, Perú, Reino Unido, Suecia y Uruguay. Los estudios abarcan un amplio espectro de lenguas incluyendo el español, el francés, el inglés, diversas lenguas indígenas de América Latina y las lenguas de señas.

BilingLatAm ofrecerá también Plenarios Abiertos para todos aquellos interesados en Bilingüismo y Educación Bilingüe en América Latina. Entre los plenaristas confirmados se encuentran: Fred Genesee (Mc Gill University, Canada) que dictará un plenario denominado Bilingual Acquisition: Exploring the Limits of the Language Faculty y Christine Hélot (Institute Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres, France) cuyo plenario se titula Moving Away From A Monolingual Habitus: The Notion Of Bilingualism In The Provision For Language Education In France.

El Primer Simposio Internacional de Bilinguismo y Educacion Bilingüe en Latinoamérica propiciará el encuentro de especialistas que compartirán los resultados de las investigaciones realizadas en el área, así como también una oportunidad de divulgación de los conocimientos en el área para la comunidad en su conjunto.

APIBA first time presenters for FAAPI 2003 APIBA offered first-time presenters for FAAPI 2003 a grant towards travel and accomodation. This is the report of the grant recipients:

Faapi 2003 : Fostering our teaching and learning practice

Thanks to the scholarship granted by APIBA, we had the opportunity to attend the FAAPI 2003 Conference : ¨Humanizing Our Teaching Practice : Minding the Whole Person¨ as presenters. Together with Analía Kandel, we conducted a workshop on conferencing techniques based on a process-oriented methodology for the teaching of writing ; ¨Process Writing: Conferencing Techniques¨. We planned the workshop with the other writing tutors that form our team at Joaquín V. González ( Fabricio Costa, María Florencia Kais, Florencia Molina, María de la Paz Moltrasio, Andrea Nicosia, Myriam Sosa Belenky, Mariana Torrillo).

Attending the Conference was an enriching learning experience. For example, we learned that a workshop is a very effective way of introducing and demonstrating conferencing techniques. We left the classroom feeling that we had given the audience a clear picture of the rationale behind the practice and the practice itself. Moreover, the audience had a chance to actually role-play a conference in pairs, which made them reflect on the problems they may face when conducting conferences with their own students. We interacted very actively with the teachers and that made the experience a lot more fulfilling.

We feel grateful for the support APIBA has given us, not only because it has enabled us to learn from other teachers and from our own performance during the conference but also because it is a great source of encouragement for future undertakings.

Carolina Curátolo and Claudia Groppa

Local delegates scheme APIBA has had a Local Delegates Scheme for some time now and it has proved very useful to help the Association publicise its news and events and to keep in touch with current members as well as members-to-be. We would like to encourage more APIBA members to become Local Delegates at the institutions where they work. The role of a Local Delegate consists of putting up posters of APIBA events, APIBA Newsletter, APIBA SIGs Timetable, etc. on noticeboards, liaising with other APIBA members and recruiting new members.

Those APIBA members wishing to become APIBA’s Local Delegate at one or more institutions (schools, teacher training colleges, language schools, etc.) can find out more about this scheme at www.apiba.org.ar or they can contact Luciana Fernádez at protesorera@apiba.org.ar

S I G s

Faapi 2003 : Fostering our practice Thanks to the scholarship granted by APIBA, we had the opportunity to attend the FAAPI 2003 Conference : ¨Humanizing Our Teaching Practice : Minding the Whole Person¨ as a presenter. Together with Analía Kandel, we conducted a workshop on conferencing techniques based on a process-oriented methodology for the teaching of writing ; ¨Process Writing: Conferencing Techniques¨. We planned the workshop with the other writing teachers that form our team at Joaquín V. González ( Fabricio Costa, María Florencia Kais, Florencia Molina, María de la Paz Moltrasio, Andrea Nicosia, Myriam Sosa Belenky, Mariana Torrillo).

Attending the Conference was an enriching learning experience. For example, we learned that a workshop is a very effective way of introducing and demonstrating the conferencing techniques. We left the classroom feeling that we had given the audience a clear picture of the rationale behind the practice and the practice itself. Moreover, the audience had a chance to actually role-play a conference in pairs, which made them reflect on the problems they may face when conducting conferences with their own students.

We interacted very actively with the teachers and that made the experience a lot more fulfilling.

We feel grateful for the support APIBA has given us, not only because it has enabled us to learn from other teachers and from our own performance during the conference but also because it is a great source of encouragement for future undertakings.

Carolina Curátolo (APIBA member)

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As of last November, Silvia Rettaroli finished her term as APIBA SIGs Assistant to the Liaison Officer, after holding office for one year. The position is now held by Valeria Artigue. Alejandra Jorge will continue as Liaison Officer.

This year, the opening event of the SIGs will be a joint first meeting for all groups. It will be held on Saturday April 17 from 2 PM to 5 PM, at a venue to be confirmed. Stay tuned to the latest SIGs news through our section in APIBA’s website.

We have received the latest newsletter from our colleagues in APRIR (Asociación de Profesores de Inglés de Rosario), and read that their SIGs got recognition and “puntaje” (Reconocimiento ministerial por disposición número 085/03 como acción de capacitación dentro de la Resolución número 0907/01). We are pleased to read this, and will begin to worlk towards obtaninig similar recognition for our SIGs, which were the first of their kind in our country.

APIBA presence in ELT events APIBA was present with a stand at the Second Applied Drama Conference, which took place on February 26-28 in Buenos Aires, thanks to the kind invitation of its organizer Celia Zubiri. We got the chance to collect a few 2004 dues during the event, as well as distribute information on the association and answer many questions about our work. Many potential members also requested information with a view to becoming members.

A PI BA

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APRIL 17: SIGS OPENING EVENT MAY 8: FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING: THE YOUNGER THE BETTER?

This meeting is intended to open the debate on this issue, as well as to provide us with practical ideas to use in the classroom with young learners

OCTOBER 16: APIBA ANNUAL SEMINAR NOVEMBER 13: SIGS CLOSING EVENT

MEMBERSHIP FORM 2004 (Please feel free to make copies) From APIBA Statutes: Artículo 5º.- De los Asociados.- Se establece una sola categoría de socios. Estos deberán poseer título docente en la especialidad, expedido por: a) las Universidades nacionales, provinciales o privadas; b) los Institutos Superiores del Profesorado nacionales, provinciales o privados.- En todos los casos los títulos deberán ser los reconocidos por el Ministerio de Educación de la Nación para la impartición de la asignatura en las escuelas nacionales.- Son requisitos para ser socio de esta Asociación: 1º.- Que la solicitud haya sido aceptada por la Comisión Directiva de la Asociación. 2º.- Que el socio abone regularmente la cuota mensual1 que determina la asamblea.

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La cuota de APIBA se abona anualmente. Ver monto al pie.

I would like to (re-)apply for membership of the Association of Teachers of English of Buenos Aires Name:____________________________________________________________________________________________________ I.D. Number (DNI/LE/LC): ___________________________________________________________________________________ Address:

Street / No: ______________________________________________________________________________________ Town: ______________________________________________________

Post Code: _____________________

Telephone Number: ______________________________ Fax Number: ______________________________ E-mail Address: ___________________________________________________________________________ Degree: _______________________ Awarded by: ________________________________ Year: __________ Work at: ______________________________________________ Position: ___________________________ Please tick [ v] and complete as appropriate: 1) I am already a Member of APIBA

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Members need only pay outstanding dues from 2001 to the present as APIBA declared a Moratorium on unpaid dues up until and including 2000.

2) I am applying for Membership of APIBA for the first time

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New members have to pay dues for the current year, submit a photocopy of their degree and two passport-sized photographs. These can be submitted by hand to any Executive Committee member or mailed to the APIBA office. Remember that this is an initial step and that the application procedure is concluded when all the material is submitted and once the APIBA Committee have accepted the application.

2001 2002 2003 2004

Dues ($50) Dues ($50) Dues ($50) Dues ($50) Before April 30th, 2004 After April 30th, 2004 ($50) Voluntary Contribution

$______ $______ $______ ($30)

TOTAL AMOUNT

$______ $______ $______ _________________ $______

Send/Bring cash or a cheque to the APIBA Office: M.T. de Alvear 1369 (KEL S.A.), C1058AAU Ciudad de Buenos Aires (please enquire about office hours) or deposit total amount at any branch of Banco Francés, Cuenta Corriente Especial en pesos 017-041719/2. IMPORTANT: Please write your full name on your deposit slip in BLOCK CAPITALS and fax it to (011) 4326-3927 with this form.

By signing below you affirm that you have read APIBA Statutes and agree to be bound by them.

Date: ______________________________ Signature: ______________________________________ For information about APIBA: E-mail: info@apiba.org.ar Web: www.apiba.org.ar Tel/fax (011) 4326-3927 (Librería Rodríguez) except new members who pay $30 all the year round.